Ian La Frenais | |
---|---|
Born | Monkseaton, Northumberland, England [1] | 7 January 1937
Occupation | Screenwriter |
Education | Dame Allan's Boys School, Newcastle upon Tyne |
Period | 1964–present |
Genre | Television |
Spouse | Doris Vartan (m. 1984) |
Relatives | Gladys and Cyril La Frenais (parents) [1] |
Ian La Frenais OBE (born 7 January 1937) is an English writer best known for his creative partnership with Dick Clement. They are most famous for television series including The Likely Lads , Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? , Porridge and its sequel Going Straight , Lovejoy and Auf Wiedersehen, Pet .
La Frenais was born in Monkseaton, Northumberland; his father was an accountant. As a child at Park Primary School in Whitley Bay, La Frenais enjoyed art and writing. He then attended Dame Allan's Boys School in Newcastle upon Tyne, and completed his National Service in the British Army. [2] After working as a salesman for a tobacco company, he began composing songs for a weekly satirical programme on Tyne Tees Television and then moved to London where he worked for a market research company. [3]
Ian La Frenais and Dick Clement have enjoyed a long and successful career embracing films, television and theatre. Their partnership began in the mid-1960s with the hit television show The Likely Lads , [4] and by the end of the decade they had also written three feature films: The Jokers , [5] Otley (directed by Clement) and Hannibal Brooks .
In the early 1970s, they worked on two other features: Villain , [5] starring Richard Burton, and Catch Me a Spy (again directed by Clement), starring Kirk Douglas. In this same period, they created their award-winning TV series Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? ; this was followed by Porridge , [6] Thick as Thieves and Going Straight . There were big-screen versions of both The Likely Lads and Porridge , [6] and a 'rockumentary', To Russia With Elton , in 1979.
Earlier that decade they had adapted Keith Waterhouse's Billy Liar into the stage musical Billy , starring Michael Crawford, which ran at London's Drury Lane Theatre for two-and-a-half years.
By the late 1970s, they were living in California, where they wrote On the Rocks , an American version of Porridge, [7] and The Prisoner of Zenda , a feature film starring Peter Sellers.
In the 1980s, their work included most of the TV series Auf Wiedersehen, Pet , which was voted ITV's Favourite TV Programme of all Time in a Radio Times readers' poll to celebrate the network's 60th anniversary, and uncredited writing work on the James Bond film Never Say Never Again . La Frenais produced the films Bullshot (1983) and Water (1985), both directed by Clement; [5] they also substantially wrote the latter. In 1987, they wrote and produced Vice Versa .
In the US, he and Clement were writers and supervising producers on HBO's Emmy-winning show Tracey Takes On... for four years in the 1990s. Their films around this time include The Commitments , which won both the Evening Standard 's Peter Sellers Award for Comedy and a BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, Excess Baggage and Still Crazy . In addition, they did uncredited rewrites on The Rock (starring Sean Connery) for Jerry Bruckheimer and director Michael Bay.
More recent television includes Archangel (starring Daniel Craig) and The Rotters' Club , [5] which they adapted from best-sellers by Robert Harris and Jonathan Coe respectively. Their most recent film credits include Goal! The Dream Begins , the animated film Flushed Away , [5] Across the Universe [8] and The Bank Job . [5]
Two new television series written by them were broadcast in 2017: an updated version of Porridge , starring Kevin Bishop, for the BBC, [9] and Henry IX for UKTV Gold, starring Charles Edwards.[ citation needed ] They have written the books for two stage musicals in development, Juke Box Hero and Victoria's Secret.
In addition to his long-running collaborations with Clement, La Frenais has created, co-created, written and/or contributed to many other TV series, including The Two Ronnies , several episodes of the BBC's Comedy Playhouse , The Other 'Arf (1980–81), the long-running series Lovejoy and the hit 1990s BBC detective series Spender (co-written with actor and singer Jimmy Nail).
Like Clement, La Frenais was made an OBE in the Queen's 2007 Birthday Honours list.
Since 1984, Ian La Frenais has been married to artist Doris Vartan, the mother of actor Michael Vartan.
La Frenais supports the football club Newcastle United. [10] [11] He is a patron of the Whitley Bay Film Festival. [12]
The Likely Lads is a British sitcom created and written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais and produced by Dick Clement. Twenty episodes were broadcast by the BBC, in three series, between 16 December 1964 and 23 July 1966. However, only ten of these episodes have survived.
Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? is a British sitcom which was broadcast on BBC1 between 9 January 1973 and 9 April 1974. It was the colour sequel to the mid-1960s hit The Likely Lads. It was created and written, as was its predecessor, by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais. There were 26 television episodes over two series, and a subsequent 45-minute Christmas special was aired on 24 December 1974. The show won the BAFTA Television Award for Best Situation Comedy in 1974.
Porridge is a British sitcom, starring Ronnie Barker and Richard Beckinsale, written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, and broadcast on BBC1 from 1974 to 1977. The programme ran for three series and two Christmas specials. A feature film of the same name based on the series was released in 1979.
Auf Wiedersehen, Pet is a British comedy-drama television programme about seven British construction workers who leave the United Kingdom to search for employment overseas. In the first series, the men live and work on a building site in Düsseldorf. The series was created by Franc Roddam after an idea from Mick Connell, a bricklayer from Stockton-on-Tees, and mostly written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, who also wrote The Likely Lads, Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? and Porridge. It starred Tim Healy, Kevin Whately, Jimmy Nail, Timothy Spall, Christopher Fairbank, Pat Roach and Gary Holton, with Noel Clarke replacing Holton for series three and four and the two-part finale. The series were broadcast on ITV in 1983–1984 and 1986. After a sixteen-year gap, two series and a Christmas special were shown on BBC One in 2002 and 2004.
Dick Clement is an English writer, director and producer. He became known for his writing partnership with Ian La Frenais for television series including The Likely Lads, Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?, Porridge, Lovejoy and Auf Wiedersehen, Pet.
Going Straight is a BBC sitcom created and written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, and starring Ronnie Barker and Richard Beckinsale. The programme was a direct spin-off to the sitcom Porridge, which all four were involved in, with its premise surrounding the exploits of Barker's character Norman Stanley Fletcher following his release from prison and his attempts to not commit another crime for the sake of his family, despite the allure that crime brings. The programme also featured the appearance of Patricia Brake, reprising her role in Porridge, and Nicholas Lyndhurst. Both Fulton Mackay and Tony Osoba guest starred in the first episode, also reprising their earlier roles.
Gary Frederick Holton was a British singer-songwriter, musician and actor from London. He was the frontman of the band Heavy Metal Kids (1972–1977), worked with Casino Steel (1981–1984), and played the part of Wayne in the UK television comedy Auf Wiedersehen, Pet (1983–1985). Holton died from an overdose of morphine combined with alcohol in 1985.
Michael Barrington was a British actor best known for his television work. His best remembered role is as the ineffectual Governor Venables in the BBC sitcom Porridge which featured Ronnie Barker in the lead role.
Sheila Fearn is an English retired actress best known for playing Audrey, the sister of Terry Collier in BBC situation comedies The Likely Lads and Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?, and also later on as Ann Fourmile, the next door neighbour in the Thames Television sitcom George and Mildred.
Alleyn Court Prep School is a co-educational day preparatory school in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex for children up to age 11.
The Prisoner of Zenda is a 1979 American comedy film directed by Richard Quine that stars Peter Sellers, Lynne Frederick, Lionel Jeffries, Elke Sommer, Gregory Sierra, Jeremy Kemp, and Catherine Schell. It is adapted from the 1894 adventure novel by Anthony Hope. The novel tells the story of a man who has to impersonate a king, whom he closely resembles, when the king is abducted by enemies on the eve of his coronation.
"Breakin' Away" / "That's Livin' Alright" is a double A-side single by English singer Joe Fagin. The songs were produced and arranged by David Mackay.
The Likely Lads is a 1976 British comedy film directed by Michael Tuchner, starring James Bolam and Rodney Bewes. It is a spin-off from Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?, although it shares its title with the earlier 1960s British television series The Likely Lads, of which Whatever was the sequel.
Porridge is a 1979 British comedy film directed by Dick Clement and starring Ronnie Barker, Richard Beckinsale, Fulton Mackay and Brian Wilde. It was written by Clement and Ian La Frenais based on their BBC television series Porridge (1974–1977). Most of prison officers and inmates from the original series appear in the film, with the notable exceptions of Lukewarm, Blanco, Heslop, and Harris. There is also a different governor, played by Geoffrey Bayldon rather than series regular Michael Barrington.
Allan McKeown was a British television and stage producer.
Johnnie Wade is a retired British film and television actor. His most memorable role was playing put upon handyman 'Roger' in the ITV Yorkshire TV comedy series You're Only Young Twice between 1977 and 1981, he is one of only two members of the main cast still living, the other being Georgina Moon.
Eric Norman Dodson was an English actor born in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, who played many roles in films and on television.
Brendan Healy was a British entertainer from North East England. Beginning as a musician, he worked in television, becoming an actor, theatre writer and producer, and, later, a comedian.
Thick as Thieves is a British sitcom which was broadcast on ITV between 1 June and 20 July 1974 and produced by London Weekend. It was created and written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais. There were 8 episodes over one series and starred Bob Hoskins, John Thaw and Pat Ashton.
Porridge is a British television sitcom, starring Kevin Bishop, written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, and broadcast on BBC One. The show is a sequel to the original 1974 series of the same name, which both Clement and La Frenais wrote. The sitcom focuses on prison inmate, Nigel Norman Fletcher, the grandson of Norman Stanley Fletcher, who is sent to Wakeley Prison to serve a five year sentence for cyber crimes.